Man Tools

[Deleted User]

Okay, maybe not just men tools.

What kind of tools do you use? The brand and the experience you have with them. Was it a disappointment? Or was it as you thought? For instance, the different brands out there, Craftsman, Husky, Snap On, etc...

I have used many different types, I find that Snap On is indeed great, for auto use, but I of course, it applies to home use as well.

Now, power tools. I use Dewalt. I find them to be very good as well. I have used some others, but find myself drawn back to Dewalt for future power tools.

So, I believe it would be great to have input on all the different tools out there and how it worked out for everyone. I can not live without my tools, and I am certain there are many others out there like myself.

Halen

tcrossma

Craftsman: Not good. Bang for the buck I suppose, but just not very well thought out with sometimes poor design decision. But I will say that my reliability with Craftsman items has been fantastic -- I just don't like using them.

Power tools: Dewalt is my favorite. Really not a single complaint with everything I have from them (which are almost exclusively from their cordless line)

Lawn tools: Toro, Stihl and Echo are my personal favorites

audiobliss

Oh yeah! Snap On FTW!!

Great, hard working people buying Snap On tools is what puts food in my stomach!

There is a difference.

dorokusai

Klein #1 Philips Screwdriver. A+

[Deleted User]

Klein makes awesome wire strippers! If my memory does not serve wrong. Okay so far, Dewalt does a great job, as my own observations, and Snap On can not be beat. Mr Audiobliss, what does ftw mean? lol.. Back to the tools, you know it people, we all use them, give the inputs. It is a great time to know what is out there and what works!

How about this. I went out to a local store today, Meridian Tools. I bought a 6 in 1 screwdriver/phillips set for $2.00 dollars and it stood up so far without going bad. It was a generic so I have no name to brand it with.

Okay, so, you name it, sockets, wrenches, rachets, screwdrivers, powertools, impact guns, what not.. what is your experience? and would you recommend it?
.

BeRad

Mastercraft Maximum for all the standard stuff, Snap On and Blue Point for specialty specific use tools, Milwakee for cordless, DeWalt for AC.

Ricardo

Whatever was on sale that day.

Face

Craftsman and Dewalt only.

audiobliss

ftw = for the win!

treitz3

Klein for electrical.
Ryobi for bang for the buck performance.
DeWalt for overall performance, though from an 8'fall, they break just as easily as a Milwaukee or blue light special....
Craftsman for hand tools.

This covers the basics for what I use for business. Specialized tools, it depends on for what purpose.

nikolas812

Craftsman and Makita....

We have a couple of speacialty Snap On tools.

[Deleted User]

Tks for the ftw explanation. Mr Ricardo, so what did you get on sale that day that did give you a good experience? I believe this would be great to know of all the things out there that work and does not. I guess you could say its a consumer report type of thing.

I use snap on tools, because I work on cars when I have the chance. I did try and use craftsman in the past, but there are certain applications it failed in. For instance, removing cylinder heads or parts that required more torque, and craftsman cracked on me, whereas snap on did great. The only problem is, Snap On is not an on demand type of tool that breaks and you could just exchange, whereas craftsman, you could take to any local sears store.

BaggedLancer

Milwaukee and Snap On are my top two choices in my toolbox. You'll find craftsman and dewalt in there too though and I like both. Dewalt is nothing more than a fancy Black & Decker.

tcrossma

Not to turn this into a debate, but Black and Decker and Dewalt are not in the same league.

[Deleted User]

B&D, well, I will not debate this either. Come on people. What are you using and how did it work out for you?

John in MA

For wrenches I use Craftsman, mainly because Snap-On and Mac are often hard to deal with unless you have a tab with the van guy. I use Klien and Channellock for pliers. I'm in the process of replacing my screwdriver collection and I'll probably go Wiha or Klien.

With corded tools I prefer Milwaukee overall but I'll buy anything that's best for its purpose. I personally use Milwaukee, Makita, Bosch, Porter-Cable, Skil (only the wormdrive saw,) DeWalt, and Hilti. I'll admit to having a Craftsman belt sander in there but it's pretty low quality.

I have few cordless tools, but I have owned more DeWalt than anything else. Older Makitas have been good to me, new ones not so much. Bosch and Porter-Cable were on the lousy side. Haven't owned any Milwaukee.

My table saw, jointer, disc sander, two drill presses, and stationary belt sander are vintage Rockwell/Delta. My metal lathe, milling machine, metal shaper, and two other drill presses are vintage Atlas. I also have a Unimat mini lathe, and an industrial Clausing lathe that I haven't yet restored.

DeWalt is owned by B&D but the tools are considerably higher quality. B&D was trying to come out with a new line of professional tools about 15-20 years ago but were having a hard time with marketing. B&D had become known as homeowner brand. So they sold off DeWalt's radial arm saw business and used the name for their new tool line. Some of the tools were B&D designed, others were from ELU (a European outfit.) I believe the first generation of tools is no longer in production. Most of the current ones are recent designs.

The whole power tool business is a mess right now. B&D owns Delta, Porter-Cable, and DeWalt. OWT (Taiwanese) owns Ryobi, Milwaukee, Ridgid power tools, Homelite, and a dozen others. Trust no one.

Frank Z

Between the srevice van and my garage, damn near every brand.
Craftsman
DeWalt
Porter-Cable
Klein
Malco


I could go on for an hour or more.

Bottom line, Lifetime Warranties on handtools are worth their weight in platinum.

audiobliss

I've also heard great things about Hitachi's newer cordless drills. Never used one, but they feel really beefy.

mrbigbluelight

BaggedLancer wrote: »

Dewalt is nothing more than a fancy Black & Decker.

tcrossma wrote: »

Not to turn this into a debate, but Black and Decker and Dewalt are not in the same league.

Agreed. B & D are 2 steps above "Buffalo" brand.


Klein, as someone mentioned, for electrical: strippers, crimpers, linesman pliers, etc.

Craftsmen, for handtools. Are Snap-On and Mac tools better ? Yes, but the price increase per level of quality increase isn't worth it, IMO, unless you're working on F1 or Nascar level equipment.

Porter-Cable makes good gear: nail guns, etc., according to the S-I-L.

Rigid for plumbing stuff: pipe wrenches, etc.

"Yellow Jacket" for HVAC stuff. Expensive, but worth it, IMO.

"IRWIN" is coming out with quite a line of handtools, drillbits, etc. Real nice prices for real good equipment (although I did snap a 1/2" drill bit going through some plate metal with a 3/4" Milwaukee last week; almost snapped my elbow, too. ).


Martha Stewart for all other gear.

Libertyc

I use Craftsman for most of my hand tools. Makita, Milwaukee, Craftsman, and Bosh for my power tools.
Porter-Cable for my air tools.
Honda, Craftsman, and Echo for my yard tools.

BTW - Husky sucks.

treitz3

audiobliss wrote: »

I've also heard great things about Hitachi's newer cordless drills. Never used one, but they feel really beefy.

The last Hitachi I used lasted 2 days. Pieces of crap if you ask me. You get what you pay for....

dpowell

Klein for hand tools and electrical
Ryobi 18volt - decent and much better than a set of Black and Deckers I had
Bosch 24volt - Serious power

John in MA

B&D at one time did make exceptional tools under their own name. But it's been a while. I think my big drill's from around 1960.

exalted512

mrbigbluelight wrote: »

Craftsmen, for handtools. Are Snap-On and Mac tools better ? Yes, but the price increase per level of quality increase isn't worth it, IMO, unless you're working on F1 or Nascar level equipment.

Respectfully disagree. It all depends on your line of work. You don't have to be working on race cars to enjoy the benefits of snap-on. For your typical home tools, no, they aren't worth the price, but if you're a mechanic, snap-on is a must. Breaking a wrench in an engine bay could mean breaking a hand, 99% of the time, snap-on will never let you down unless you're using a cheater bar, and even then, the stuff holds up.

Almost all of my tools are craftsman. I can afford snap-on, but like someone said before, you have to wait until the truck gets back if you need to replace a tool...I have a Sear's on the way home from work...

The main things I break are screws drivers...and mainly because when they break, theyre not getting used as screw drivers. I have also found craftsman professional screwdrivers suck in comparison to their regular ones. They have a huge weak point where they meet the handle, unlike the regular ones which go all the way through the handle as one solid piece.

For my drills and power tools, I prefer Makita. Lithium ion is definitely the way to go now. More powerful and stay charged longer, as well as a longer battery life.

I have a craftsman professional shop vac and air compressor and a ridgid table saw. Delta makes fantastic products as well. I'll be in the market for a compound sliding miter saw soon, and it will likely be Milwaukee, craftsman, or delta. I'm also going to be buying a vertical panel saw soon, it will be Milwaukee.

All in all, it really depends on what you're doing. For day to day stuff, Harbor Freight even has lifetime warranties on many of their hand tools and the stuff is dirt cheap! They won't take apart an engine, but they're not bad by any means. I have a grinder from them that gets the **** beat out of it and its still great.

For the shade tree mechanic, I'd probably have all snap-on wrenches, sockets, and socket wrenches, but everything else would probably be craftsman.

Matco makes very, very good cable cutters as well. They're almost 90 bucks, but if you work with 4awg + copper/aluminum wire, they're worth theyre weight in gold. Unfortunately, mine got lost. (Dont tell my fiancee, she got them for me and would kill me if she knew i lost them!) I'm trying to save for a house right now so I dont have the extra money to get another set...and I miss the hell outta them.
-Cody

exalted512

Also, if you're looking for a big tool box, I wouldn't go with anything other than snap-on (or the other 'truck tool' manufacturers". I could never find a craftsman or the like that is anywhere close to the quality of snap on.
-Cody

mule

First thing that should be said is that most power tools you would buy at lowes or home depot are not the same as what you would buy at a dedicated tool store, actually same is true for locksets and plumbing fixtures. Schlage lockset from homey d=plastic internal parts, Schlage lockset from hardware store= all brass internal parts. Same with power tools, Homey d dewalt cordless drill=plastic gears, same tool from dedicated tool store will often have metal gears.

Makita cordless have the nicest ergonomics, the lithium ion 18v is light and really balanced, the impact is great for driving screws. Makita recipricateing saw, horrible. The new Makita gas powered cut off saw is really nice to, better than the stihl that most people use

Milwaukee right angle drill, The Hole Hawg, no competition on this one,look in any plumbers van and this is what you will see. Milwaukee Magnum Hole shooter is awsome too, you can break a wrist with that baby. I have the latest set of lithium ion cordless stuff from milwaukee and they are nice, powerfull, good batteries and durable not as comfy as makita but the set was priced right and came with the tools that are important to me.

Hitachi rotary hammers are beasts. Some of the Bosch bulldogs are ok for easy stuff but if you really want a no nonesense tool you buy the hitachi. Most Hitachi tools will also use a quality bearing where others will use a bushing, thats ok for home owner use but dailly use in a dusty job site and they just don't hold up.

The only Dewalt tool I have is a 10" mitre box. I bought it from a friend for 80 bucks because it had a new blade on it and thats what the blade cost. He replaced it with a Hitachi 10" compound slide which is a more versatle tool.

I did some preproduction testing on Dewalt wet saws for tile and stone about 5 years ago, they marketed them for about 2 years and now Rigid is selling the same design through Home Depot, interesting. I might even buy one because the price is right and there are a couple of good features that would be hardy in certain situations. The Imer saws are awsome but are also limited in some situations so you still need some thing like the MK design as a backup.

Early B.

I don't use tools that much, but I buy what's on sale. I own Craftsman and DeWalt stuff mainly. I had a 12V Makita cordless drill and it was kinda weak, and so was the battery life. I replaced it with a Panasonic and it's a much better product.

What about the HD or Lowe's brand of hand tools? Are they any good?

BaggedLancer

I didnt say that Black & Decker = Dewalt, I just said Dewalt is a fancy Black & Decker. In otherwords a little bit better but still not much. Dewalt is supposed to compare along the lines of Milwaukee and it doesn't even come close. I'd take my Milwaukee cordless drill and sawzall(powered and cordless) over my dad's Dewalt counterparts any day of the week.

obieone

Rigid 24V L.I. 4 piece combo set that retailed for $600-intro price of $300, damn powerful when properly charged.
Craftsman 16.8v cordless drill-8 YEARS of heavy use, 2nd set of batteries, WON'T break!
Uniweld Oxy-Acetylene torch- regulators SUCK! Won't stay at a fixed volume
Stanley 110 pc. socket set @ Walmart-$40. does what it needs to
Fluke 209 DMM/amp meter-this thing does everything-AC/DCv, amps, capacitance, ohms, and temperature.
generic pullers from harbor freight, again do what they need to.
Assorted other stuff.
Got burned by Mac tools a LONG time ago, so they don't get a second glance.

obieone

BaggedLancer wrote: »

I didnt say that Black & Decker = Dewalt, I just said Dewalt is a fancy Black & Decker. In otherwords a little bit better but still not much. Dewalt is supposed to compare along the lines of Milwaukee and it doesn't even come close. I'd take my Milwaukee cordless drill and sawzall(powered and cordless) over my dad's Dewalt counterparts any day of the week.

The question is: Are his Dewalts 'XRP'? Big difference.

BaggedLancer

obieone wrote: »

The question is: Are his Dewalts 'XRP'? Big difference.

Have both.